


When Did We Meet Again...?

by HotaruMuraki



Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kouyuu's directionally challenged, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 21:05:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4494687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HotaruMuraki/pseuds/HotaruMuraki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They met when they were adults, right?<br/>Wrong!<br/>They did meet once before. It's just that they no longer consciously remember...</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Did We Meet Again...?

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: Total disregard of ages, places and circumstances - both anime- and novel-wise. *shrugs* Besides, they really might have met that way. Who knows...? ~^__^~

  


  


_"When will we three meet again?_  
_In thunder, lightning or in rain...?"_  
\--MacBeth, by W.Shakespeare

  


"Aaaaaaah!" With a yell, Seien woke, bolting upright from yet another nightmare of deep pits and poisonous vipers and--Had he had Kanshou or Bakuya with him and had the one shaking him awake been any taller than about three feet, they'd be dead. Fortunately, neither of the two was the case.

Therefore, the sweet, cherubic face peering up at him remained unharmed. If it looked a wee bit worried, well... Seien shrugged internally, chastising himself. He had to think of himself as 'Seiran' now; for he was 'Seien' no more. That 'Seien' was dead. He shook his head.

"Seiran, what's wrong?" came the soft, conderned voice of his nighttime saviour. "Did you have a bad dream? Are you hurt?"

"No, ojou-chan," Seiran managed to say. "I'm not injured."

". . . . . . ." 4-year-old Shuurei managed to look as doubting as her mother would. However, on her, that half-scolding, half-exasperated gaze looked more like a cute pout than an intimidating stare.

It made Seiran smile. To think that there were people other than his beloved little brother Ryuuki who cared for him... All things considered, he felt more at ease here than he ever had before, at the palace. It'd be simply _perfect_ if he could have his little brother here, as well; but the gods apparently had other plans.

Shuurei hated seeing that wistful look on her best friend's face. No, she simply hated seeing Seiran be so sad, period. ...and since he had no mommy to take care of him, it was right now up to her to do something about this.

So she clambered up onto the bed, practically falling into an astonished Seiran's lap. As soon as Shuurei had settled, she threw her arms around his neck, squeezing with all the might her 4-year-old self would allow.

"Seiran," she whispered against his neck. "Dear, dear Seiran... I'll help you. When you are sad... Seiran no longer has to be sad, you know. Seiran is not alone anymore!!!"

The 11-year-old ex-prince blinked. Then he blinked again, a realization dawning in his heart. And that realization, those words his ojou-chan had spoken, started to finally, _finally_ thaw his heart.

Cuddling closer to the warm, soft little body of his _second_ precious person, Seiran felt hopeful. Seiran felt warm again for the first time in, well, a _looong_ while.

It would all work out for the best. After all, he was not alone anymore.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Why are you crying?" a curious voice inquired.

6-year-old Ryuuki blinked the tears from his eyes and looked up. Oh, a garden-sprite had found him! It had such a sweet, chubby face framed by midnight-colored hair and countless hydrangea. The brown eyes gazing at him held neither malice nor duplicity; instead, the person behind those eyes seemed honest. And curious. Maybe...honestly curious...?

So caught up was little Ryuuki in his musings that he totally forgot the question. He didn't even notice his visitor paring the bushes he had hidden in and huddling down beside him.

Only when he felt a small, soft hand touch his tear-stained cheeks, did he snap back to the present. Maybe it was the sprite's doing? But for some reason, he felt... _safe_ in his sprite's company. Almost as if his Seien-aniue were there. Only smaller. And as a girl. (Probably. As everyone know, with kami, you can never be sure!)

".......my big brother left me." Ryuuki sniffled. "My other elder brothers hate me. They hit me and yell at me." He hiccuped, his feelings of despair returning. "Nobody wants me; nobody needs me. _Nobody loves me!_ I'm all alone. . ."

By now the little sprite was crying, too. Tear after tear ran down velvety cheeks like two small rivers. Ryuuki certainly hadn't wanted to make such a beautiful being cry, but—Were those...for _him_!?

He felt himself being hugged, and squeezed in what was surely meant to be a comforting way. And as Ryuuki felt his sprite's tears soak his garments and warm his skin, he heard her whisper "You are not alone. You _are_ needed. You are _not alone_!" over and over again.

Then she grabbed his hand and started tugging him out of the hydrangea and off to...somewhere. Truth be told, Ryuuki didn't care where he ended up as long as _she_ was there, too.

A short while later, the two of them ended up in a _huge_ room filled with rows upon rows of shelves and—Ryuuki gaped. He didn't know there was a place that held so many scrolls and books!

The sprite's giggling made Ryuuki look at her in astonishment. Was this where she lived? Before he could voice his thoughts, however, his from-now-on _second_ precious person interrupted.

"These are the Archives. You will be safe here!" She gave him a brilliant, beaming smile and turned around. "I'm not allowed to come with you but let's meet again, okay?"

And with that, she was gone, disappearing down the garden's pathways.

Neither knew that the promise to meet again wouldn't be fulfilled until almost a decade later, under a blooming sakura tree in those very same gardens.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"Aaargh! Why did they move the Archives again!?" an angry voice could be heard. "And where are the scrolls about horticulture again? ...why do they move them around this much anyway?" With a childish stomping of his feet, Li Kouyu made his displeasure known. Sure, he was rather new to this...humongous place but still! ...to have things moved around just to spite him!

Reishin-sama had said there was a great treasure here, in these archives, and Kouyu wanted to find it. If only to show his adoptive father that yes, he could find his way!

This was about as far as the 8-year-old had come in his musings when a smaller mass of...something barrelled into him, throwing the both of them off balance.

THUD!

Kouyu felt his back touch the floor, making his head ring with the impact. He suddenly also found it difficult to breath—oh. There was a weight on his chest: the... _something_ that had made him fall in the first place!

He poked the bundle of cloth.

"Wah!"

Said bundle of cloth scrambled backwards, off of him, thereby revealing itself as a girl-thing of about 5 years clad in robes far too large for her small frame.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I really didn't see you there..."

Kouyu had never before heard such a sweet, innocent voice. In fact, he was so spell-bound that he didn't hear another word this fairy of the Archives said, only the melody of her voice weaving her spell around him. . .

Belatedly realizing that maybe she would want an answer of sorts, he sat up, saying ". . . . . it's okay. I-I wasn't looking where I was g-going either."

"Oh." The fairy still looked troubled, though. Her brown eyes looked him over to check for injuries. "...but you fell pretty hard!"

"It's nothing," Kouyu insisted. "I'm not hurt or anything. Besides, you're such a light-weight... Didn't hurt at all!"

"I'm sorry!" She apologized again. This time, however, she sent him a beaming smile that would have made him weak in the knees had he been standing.

". . . . ." Kouyu prayed to the Eight Sages that he wasn't blushing as red as he felt right now.

"So... What were you looking for, here?"

"Well..." Now if the Archive's fairy didn't know – who would? So he found himself explaining his reasons for being here, where he came from and what he wanted to accomplish.

After he ended, the fairy stilled, obviously thinking. Maybe she was deciding whether he could be trusted with this secret? Kouyu _was_ intruding on her place, after all... Then her head shot up and she looked at him with a determined gaze.

"I'll help you!" She declared in a bright voice. "You'll see! I know this place and I'll show you! ...We will find whatever you're looking for."

With that she dragged him off towards a row of shelves Kouyu hadn't been to. Yet.

Kouyu blinked, letting himself be towed along without resistance. (Would have been futile anyway. That girl had a strong grip on his wrist for one so small!) Was his fairy planning to show him _everything_ in the Archives!? ...not that Kouyu minded. Quite the contrary, actually.

He smiled, stepping up to the fairy's side, both walking further into the Archive's depths.

It was to become the most magical day Li Kouyu had experienced in his short life up to now.

. . . and that is why Li Kouyu _never_ gets lost in the Archives. Only everywhere else.

  


  


**Author's Note:**

>   
>   
>  **1** ) _Kanshou_ and _Bakuya_ are the swords Ryuuki and, later on, Seiran wear/use. _Kanshou_ is Seiran's sword whereas _Bakuya_ belongs to Ryuuki. One has a white hilt with a black sheath and the other has a black hilt with a white sheath.  
>  **2** _kami_ = gods and goddesses inhabiting, well, _everything_ : places, objects, etc.  
>  **3** ) _horticulture_ = art of growing flowers, fruits and vegetables; gardening  (Was Kouyu trying to learn something about _plum-trees_...? *wink*)
> 
>  **A/N:** They are children still, with a child's vivid, magical imagination of the world and its inhabitants. So yes, to _them_ , angels, fairies and such still exist. Too bad they eventually are made to grow out of that...


End file.
